It was definitely an exciting week of birding for me; you can read about yesterday’s LITTLE GULL here, and Thursday’s Red-necked Grebe here. Meanwhile, I’ve also enjoyed some less exciting but still good birding as well this week. On Tuesday evening I went to Wickham Lake – I enjoyed some decent looks at a Common Loon and tried my hand at photographing swallows in flight, which is always fun. This morning I checked a few lakes out before heading to the black dirt to try for Lapland Longspur in breeding plumage (no luck!). At Wickham Lake, I had another (very distant) Red-necked Grebe, and I got my first Spotted Sandpiper of the year.
Wow! Orange County LITTLE GULL!
I was on the golf course this morning when Jeanne Cimorelli reported that she briefly had a LITTLE GULL at Washington Lake. Fortunately, larophile extraordinaire Bruce Nott relocated the bird a little later at Plum Point. After golf, I ran for the bird, convinced that I had only a very slim chance of getting it. Fortunately the bird stuck around, associating with a large flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls on the Hudson River just north of Plum Point. I was thrilled to get on the bird on the water – at first it was a challenge to find it among the 70 or so Bonies, but then it got a little easier. Then the flock took flight, and that’s when finding the bird was easy, its dark underwings showing up very well. I believe this is the first county record of Little Gull; the bird was a life bird for me.
OC Red-necked Grebe, 04/18/24
Question: Is it pathetic or is it awesome that a single bird can make my week? Regardless of your answer to that question, that’s what happened tonight. I’d been having a rotten week; heavy with work stress and deficient in joy. But that changed tonight when I rolled up to Greenwood Lake and found a gorgeous RED-NECKED GREBE on the water. The bird was a little bit distant at first, but it was slowly making its way towards the shore. I put the word out, and Kyle Knapp joined on the beach. We enjoyed some good looks, but the bird remained tucked in most of the time.
The bird was drifting further out, so we decided to leave. Just before we got in our cars, Kyle took one more look – at first he didn’t see the bird, but then we found it, it was very close to shore. We slowly made our way closer; the bird stayed put and we enjoyed fantastic looks and photos ops of this beautiful bird. What a night, what a way to melt the stress away. What a great hobby.
A Good Weekend, 04/14/24
I didn’t do a post last weekend because I did not have any noteworthy sightings nor any photos that I felt justified a post. This weekend it’s a different story. I enjoyed two mornings of really good birding where I added several new birds to my Orange County year list. I also finally caught up with a couple of birds which had been eluding me – on Saturday morning, I finally got a Great Cormorant for the county (I’d seen one across the river in Dutchess County earlier in the year). Then on Sunday morning, thanks to birding bud Bruce Nott, I finally saw the Eurasian Green-winged Teal which has been in the area for some time. It was in the big pond at the Camel Farm, which made finding it much easier than scanning through hundreds of Green-winged Teals at Winding Waters Trail, as I did a couple of weeks ago.
And things are starting to happen. Including the couple of evenings I got out earlier this week, I added 12 species to my OC year list:
- Gadwall (Wickham Lake 4/9/24)
- Osprey (Wickham Lake 4/9/24)
- Sharp-shinned Hawk (Wickham Lake 4/9/24)
- Barn Swallow (Wickham Lake 4/9/24)
- Chipping Sparrow (Goshen, 4/10/24)
- RED-THROATED LOON (Wickham Lake 4/11/24)
- GREAT CORMORANT (Newburgh Waterfront 4/13/24)
- Greater Yellowlegs (Camel Farm 4/13/24)
- Lesser Yellowlegs (Camel Farm 4/13/24)
- DUNLIN (Winding Waters Trail, 4/14/24)
- Broad-winged Hawk (Winding Waters Trail 4/14/24)
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Winding Waters Trail, 4/14/24)
Loony Evening, 04/11/24
The old adage ‘bad weather = good birds’ held true once again this evening. I’d like to add to that and say bad weather = good birds = terrible photos. But it also makes for a very happy birder. I headed out directly after work today, and I spent a rainy evening checking out a couple of local lakes. At my first stop, Wickham Lake, I was pleased to find 9 (!) Common Loons on the water. Eight of the birds were in a tight group, with one bird that was only loosely associating with them:
My next stop was Glenmere Lake. At first I thought it was a bust, but then I saw 2 distant birds in my binoculars. I got the scope on them, and sure enough, it was a pair of RED-THROATED LOONS! Always a favorite and seemingly more difficult to get in the county in recent years, this sighting made my night.
Easter 2024
Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates. It was a busy weekend for me, as we hosted family for the the holiday, but I did manage to get out a for a little bit on both days of the weekend. I walked Winding Waters Trail at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge on both days; it’s been absolutely loaded with waterfowl, and I was really interested in tracking down the Eurasian Green-winged Teal that Bruce Nott found earlier in the week. There are hundreds of Green-winged Teal there right now; I sorted through them a good while on Saturday and for a little while on Sunday, but I did not have any luck with my target bird. So I finished the weekend having seen just the usual suspects for this time of year, but as usual, I enjoyed trying to get some interesting photographs.
A Good Morning, 03/24/24
After a bleak and rainy Saturday that broke my “bad weather = good birding” rule in convincing fashion, I enjoyed a lovely, crisp, cold, and sunny Sunday morning of productive birding. I ran into Kyle Knapp at Lower Wisner Road, where we easily found my first Rusty Blackbirds of 2024; they were feeding with a small flock of American Robins out in a field. The Brown Thrasher that Kyle found skulking in some nearby hedges was an excellent bonus bird. Brown Thrasher is not a bird I see very often, so it was good to get one so early in the year.
Afterwards, I headed out to the black dirt to see what I could find. I was finally able to track down some Wilson’s Snipe – they were in an odd location to me – out in a field on Skinners Lane, loosely associating with nearly a dozen Killdeer. Later, at The Camel Farm, I was able to find my first American Pipits of the year; a trio of birds working around some of distant puddles out in the field.
Ring-necked Duck, 03/17/24
Looking at field guides, and from my own personal experience, Ring-necked Ducks do not show off their namesake very often. Even today, when I photographed this drake, I didn’t take notice of it. But, when I reviewed my photos, I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I’ve never seen a maroon/brown neck-ring this distinctive. I’m not sure if this is the effect of particular lighting condition, or if this is this individual’s current plumage. Regardless, I didn’t much luck otherwise with photos today, but I definitely wanted to share a couple shots of this good-looking bird, which I photographed at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary this morning.
Birding Around the County, 03/16/24
I was up super early this morning, so I was able to enjoy one of my favorite things – the Black Dirt Region at sunrise. I was hoping I might catch a glimpse of a Coyote at that hour, but it wasn’t to be. I was, however, rewarded by finding and photographing three Lapland Longspurs just after sunrise. It’s been several weeks since I’ve found any LALOs, so it was good to catch up with those birds. Unfortunately, not long after seeing the longspurs, I found a recently deceased Short-eared Owl. The field where I found the bird had been recently cleared; sadly it appeared to me that the bird had been killed by a run-in with some farm machinery.
Later in the morning, I checked some of the lakes in southern Orange County. I didn’t find much, but I was happy to find a Common Loon at Wickham Lake in beautiful plumage:
My final destination on this Saturday was the Hudson River near Newburgh. The big excitement for me was finding a single Lesser Black-backed Gull on the sandbar in Cornwall Bay. Also of note was a trio of Red-breasted Mergansers. Unfortunately there was no sign of the Great Cormorants which have been in the area recently.
Sunday Shots, 03/10/24
It was a little bit of an uninspired weekend of birding for me. I never really put a good plan together for either day, so I just kind of wandered around the county and it was ultimately not very productive. I think a lot of it has to do with the time of year – it’s sort of in between right now – some winter birds are holding on, but many are on the move, yet migration isn’t in full swing just yet. Highlights for me included adding Hermit Thrush to my 2024 OC list at D&H Canal Park Saturday morning, and catching up with a Great Cormorant on the Hudson River first thing this morning. As usual, regardless of how productive it was, I like to share some of the images from the weekend on a Sunday evening; fortunately I didn’t strike out on that count.